


Before the Storm

by NovaButterfly



Series: A Change of Fate [2]
Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Sequel, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:33:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21800998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaButterfly/pseuds/NovaButterfly
Summary: This is a continuation of A Change of Fate please read that first!!Now that Queen Moon is gone and Star and her friends are safe in the Kingdom of Fire, they have to prepare. For what? They aren't entirely sure. Star doesn't know what her mother is capable of and she's losing sleep from the possibilities running through her head. Tom and Marco aren't sure how to interact with one another and Oskar is feeling caged in. They need to come together before the Queen strikes or they'll lose everything.
Relationships: Marco Diaz/Tom Lucitor, Star Butterfly/Oskar Greason, Tomco
Series: A Change of Fate [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562809
Comments: 9
Kudos: 70





	Before the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> I've been trying to work on this for DAYS and finally was able to sit down and put this together. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen just yet. I have a few ideas but I need to piece together the rest of the story as I go so please be patient with me.

Ch. 1

This was never going to be easy. Five days had gone by since Queen Moon returned to her kingdom. The four friends expected an immediate retaliation, maybe a declaration of war, but nothing had happened. Yet.

Star was on edge, unable to relax. It was evident that she hadn’t been sleeping much by the dark circles under her eyes and how detached from reality she seemed. More than once one of the boys found her dozing in odd places like she hadn’t meant to fall asleep. They’d agreed not to wake her when this happened, knowing it was the only sleep she was getting. She spent much of her time theorizing what her mother could be doing. She was ready for an attack of some kind and she wanted to make sure the boys were prepared. She spoke with Tom’s army and guards multiple times to make sure they were prepared for what could be coming their way. It was hard for Marco to see her so on edge, so afraid.

Oskar felt uncomfortable in the castle. His childhood home was more like a place to recover after traveling than a home. He wasn’t used to being confined to one place for long. When he suggested traveling, just in the opposite direction of the Kingdom of the Moon, his friends had persuaded him to stay. They didn’t know what the Queen was doing or when she would strike. Star and Marco both believed that she would kill Oskar if she knew who he was. If Star didn’t have her minstrel, maybe she would bend to her will again. Still, he found himself feeling restless, caged in.

Marco had written to his parents the day the Queen had left but had yet to hear back. He didn’t know what she would do to them just to get to him. He knew that she blamed him for helping Star get away from her and break the marriage contract. Still, he wasn’t sure if his dad’s loyalty to their kingdom was strong enough to keep him from his son. Would he choose his army over his own son? He wanted to believe he wouldn’t, but he just wasn’t sure. Being around Tom was painful as well. He hadn’t necessarily been rejected, but things were awkward. He found it hard to be around him and avoided being left alone with him. Deep down he knew it would be easier to pretend he didn’t love him than deal with a real rejection.

For the first time, Tom was left to figure things out for himself. His life had been planned out for him by his parents and now he was diverging so far from the path he wasn’t sure what would come next. He wasn’t going to marry Star, that much he knew. Sitting down and taking a hard look at the way his parents wanted him to rule was no easy task. He felt so brainwashed into believing what they believed. What if they were wrong? He had to think for himself and it was overwhelming. He wanted to talk to Star about it, but she was so distracted he wasn’t sure it was the right time. He also had Marco on his mind more than he’d like to admit. Ever since he’d learned of his feelings, he was overly aware of the other man’s presence. He knew Marco was avoiding him and that made things more difficult as he found himself wanting to know him now that they had a chance and an excuse.

All in all, the group was a mess and neither one of them was ready to face the truth that they needed to pull together instead of pulling apart.

Star was the first one at the table for breakfast. Food was still being brought out and placed on the table when she slumped down into her chair. Once again, she’d barely slept. She asked for a coffee to be brought to her and hoped it would be enough to convince her friends she’d slept. She knew they were worried about her and she couldn’t blame them. She felt terrible.

The first one to join her was Tom. He was usually up earlier than anyone else, so it didn’t surprise her that he was there only moments after her. He sat across from her, mumbling a greeting. He didn’t appear to have slept well either. Star wondered what all was weighing on his mind. They hadn’t had a chance to properly sit down and talk since everything happened.

“You’re here early.” He said, taking a long drink from the glass of water placed before him.

“I woke early.” She lied.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

“I slept. I just got to the point where I couldn’t sleep anymore. How did you sleep?”

“Fine. A bit rough. There were a few nightmares that woke me.”

“Anything you want to talk about?” She asked, thanking the maid who brought her coffee.

Yes, he did want to talk to her about it, but he didn’t want to worry her. She didn’t need anything else keeping her up at night. He didn’t often use magic for anything, but he wondered if there was a spell he could us to give her a full night of rest. Would she be mad at him if he did? It was better than having her keel over from exhaustion.

“No. I’m alright. Just general nightmares I’ve had since I was a kid.” He lied.

Neither one was being truthful with the other and in the long run it would hurt them. The only one Star was used to confiding in was Marco, and even he seemed too distracted at the moment. She hadn’t told him anything about her concerns though she had to wonder if he already knew a bit. He always seemed to have a way of knowing what was wrong with her. They’d barely even spoken since everything that happened, which was completely unlike either of them.

Marco was the next one to enter the dining hall. He took a seat next to Star and greeted them both, though he didn’t look at Tom. He instead focused his eyes on the table of food before him. Oskar tended to sleep late so he told them never to wait for him to start a meal. The three began to pile food on their plates in silence. When they all stood together against the Queen and Tom gave the three friends sanctuary in his home, they had all hoped that they would bond but things seemed to be going the other way. Everything was a bit awkward.

Oskar felt uncomfortable around Tom, knowing that he was the one Star had feelings for instead of the prince. He figured Tom had to hate him to some extent. He had let him stay as well but deep down he knew it was for Star’s sake, not his own. He tried to keep his distance from the prince as often as he could, so missing a meal or two wasn’t so bad.

Star didn’t really know how to interact with Tom or Marco when both were around. She knew that things were awkward between them and she didn’t want to say the wrong thing. As far as she knew, nothing had progressed since Tom learned of Marco’s love for him. At the very least, Marco hadn’t told her of any progress. In the past he’d been so worried about driving her away he didn’t even tell her of his sexuality. What if it was the same now? What if he wasn’t telling her what was going on because he was worried about how she’d react? Shouldn’t he know that she loved him no matter what? She already knew he loved Tom. Why couldn’t her tell her more than that?

She also couldn’t help feeling guilty around Tom. If she had just spoken to him about what she was feeling years ago, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten so bad. Would she still have ended up here? Protected by his army from her mother who was determined to marry her off to the highest royal bidder? Either way, they wouldn’t have been so close to the wedding. Notices would not have had to be sent out to the guests to alert them of the cancelation. She felt like she had dug her own grave and she was waiting for him to push her in.

Marco wanted to speak to Tom, but he was afraid for many reasons. Afraid his facial features would betray him, and he’d let Tom know just how much he loved him. He couldn’t even look at him. He didn’t want to be hated by him. If he had known how badly Tom wanted to begin a friendship with him maybe he wouldn’t feel that way, but even the prince was afraid. He’d never had friends. He didn’t know how to proceed, especially with someone who was in love with him. He was worried he’d say the wrong things and drive him away or accidentally break his heart. This was one thing his parents had never prepared him for.

Breakfast was over quickly and silently. Occasionally one may make an idle comment, but none of the three wanted to say the wrong thing. Tom excused himself first, giving an excuse of needing to attend to things in his study. Star watched him go and listened for his footsteps to get far enough away before she spoke.

“I’m worried about him.” She said, setting down her fork and turning to Marco.

“Tom? Why?” He asked.

“He’s hiding something from me. I just feel it. I don’t know why he won’t talk to me but…but when I was in your body, when he thought I was you, he talked to me. Talked to you. Maybe you could go and see him. Ask him if everything is alright.”

“Star I…” Marco started, not sure what to say.

“Please, Marco. He doesn’t have a best friend to confide in.” Star said, knowing well that currently neither was confiding in the other.

“It’s just…awkward.” He said, poking at the food on his plate.

“Don’t you want to become closer with him? Isn’t that a normal thing to want when you’re in love?”

“I’m in love. He isn’t. He never will be.”

“You don’t know that!”

“I do. He’s looking for friends. I…” Marco sighed. “Fine. I guess being his friend won’t be terrible. Maybe it will help me get over this and let it go.”

“Or maybe he’ll fall for you too.”

“Star, you’re not helping.”

“Sorry.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “I just want you to be happy.”

\------

Tom sat at his desk, in front of him was a file his father left him on how to handle an uprising. He read over it carefully, trying to imagine if he went against this plan. There were hundreds of files just like this and he needed to do this with every single one and make changes. He needed to know if this was how he wanted to rule.

When a knock sounded from the door, he assumed it was one of his staff, so he called for them to enter. Instead, when he looked up, he saw it was Marco who came through the door.

“Do you have a minute?” He asked, his face already red.

“Uh…yea.” Tom was surprised to say the least. The last person he expected to come see him was Marco.

Marco closed the door behind him and took a seat on the couch near the wall. Tom turned in his chair to watch him. Both were silent. Tom wasn’t sure what to say since Marco had come to see him and Marco was already feeling anxious and embarrassed.

“I um…Star is worried about you.” Marco began.

“Did she send you?”

“No.” He lied. “She just told me you didn’t seem like yourself, so I thought I’d come check on you.”

Tom looked back to the file on his desk and sighed. He was glad Marco was finally speaking to him. Maybe he could talk to him about everything. He wouldn’t understand like Star would, but maybe it would help.

“Are you going to go and report everything I say to Star?” He asked.

“Not if you don’t want me to.” Marco wasn’t lying. He’d tell Star what they talked about but edit it down if he needed to.

“I don’t want to put anything else on her mind right now. She’s so worried about what’s going to happen next and I don’t want to weigh her down with my problems.”

“I won’t tell her.” Marco promised.

Tom turned back to him. He still didn’t know precisely what he felt for Marco, but this was a start and he felt like he could trust him. Closing the file on his desk, he held it up for the other man to see.

“I have hundreds of these. Plans, written by my father, for how to handle certain situations when I took over. He used to make me study these. Every so often he’d add a new one.” He dropped the file back down on the desk. “He didn’t want me to think for myself. He thought he knew what was best for me and the kingdom and that I needed to rule just like him. So, they’re more like guidelines.”

“Are you doubting them now?” Marco asked.

“I never really have before. I thought, I want to make him happy. I want him to be proud of me. I’ll marry who he wants me to marry, I’ll rule how he wants me to rule. But now…I just don’t know if he was right. I told you before…or no I didn’t. It was Star.”

Marco looked away, suddenly feeling ashamed for the way they tricked him into talking to Star. He wasn’t sure Tom had figured out exactly what their plan was, but he couldn’t help feeling guilty. He couldn’t look him in the eye on a good day. Now it was nearly impossible.

Tom cleared his throat. “Anyway. I told her that he wasn’t a great parent. I never felt like he loved me. I was more like…a project to him. Something to perfect. I thought he was a good ruler, but now I feel brainwashed. I feel like I need to go over everything I’ve ever learned with a fine-tooth comb and be sure this is how I feel. I need to imagine what it’s like to disagree with his plans. See if it feels right.”

“Is that why you’ve been locking yourself away most of the day? This is what you’ve been doing?”

“What else can I do? Without knowing what Queen Moon is going to do, I can’t really prepare. Star knows her better than I do, and she’s determined to handle it all herself. I feel useless and how can I be a proper ruler until I know what I want to do?”

Marco wished he could do something to ease his mind. He didn’t know what to say to him, how to make him feel alright again. Still, he agreed with him. It was important for him to determine whether or not his father was truly a good ruler and if he wanted to follow in his footsteps. It only made him love him more, if that was possible at this point. Seeing him working so diligently at something made him feel pride at choosing this man to fall for.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Marco seriously doubted he could help in anyway, but he couldn’t help offering.

“I don’t know. Talking about it helps. My chest doesn’t feel quite as tight now.” Tom smiled and noted the way it made Marco react. “When Star was pretending to be you, she said she wanted to be friends. That…meant a lot to me when I believed it was you.”

“Really? I thought you hated me.”

“I don’t and yes. I’ve never had a friend before. So, having someone want to be my friend really made me happy. I know you want more than that but-.”

“No! No…friendship sounds great.” Marco said, afraid of where that sentence was going. “I definitely want to be friends. I think it’s what we all need. I mean…all of us need to become friends. All we have is the four people in this castle and I think it’s important for us to develop a bond. To stand together against whatever the Queen is going to throw at us.”

Tom smiled again, genuinely happy. He could be friends with Star now, he wanted to be friends with Marco and…he hadn’t seen much of the minstrel, but he was open to a friendship with him as well. If he’d known what the idea of having friends felt like, maybe he would have tried harder in the past. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel alone.


End file.
